THE CAMPAIGN IN ILLINOIS. 

■ ^^•►^ -r, 

SPEECH OF SENATOR TRUMBULL, 

HIS PRIVATE OPINION OF DOUGLAS PUBLICLY EXPRESSED. 

\From. the Chioa<io Democrat.'] 



Upon being- introduced, Mr. Trumbull was greeted 
with three heart}' cheers. Silence having been re- 
stored, he said : 

Fellow-citizens : I am gratilied to have an oppor- 
tunity of hiying before so many of my fellow-citi- 
zens as T sec here as.sembled, my views in regard to 
the political questions which have agitated the pub- 
lic mind since I became connected with public af- 
fairs. When I entered Congress as one of the re- 
presentatives of this state, the great and all-absorb- 
ing question which occupied the public mind was 
the slavery question. Parties were then organized 
upon that question, and they liave continued so up 
to this time; and it is in rogai-d to that question 
that I shall chiefly address you to-night, though not 
altogethei- ; for, in discussing that question I desire 
to bring before you the fact wliich exists tliat all the 
great powers of this government are subordinate to 
this one question. I wish to .show you how the 
expenditures of this government are made, how 
its patronage is used, and how its power is exerted 
for the purpose of encouraging the spread of slavery 
and the domination of the slave power. [ Applause.] 
In doing this, my fellow-citizens, I shall resort to no 
chip-trap expressions. I wish no person in this au- 
dience, or in this state, to act or vote with that party 
with whicli I have the honor to act, unless he believes 
it to be right. I have no false colors to hang out to 
deceive you, but I wish to lay before you the plain, 
lionest truth, and if that does not commend the par- 
: ty with which I act to j'oitr judgments, then I say to 
you it is your duty to act with some other party ; 
bvit if, in the course of the observations I have to 
make, I can show that a party sailing under false 
colors, pretending one thing and acting another, is 



misleading the public mind and changing the policy 
of the government— professing economy, is guilty 
of profligacy — professing to love the constitution, is 
trampling it under foot — and, professing to be demo- 
cratic, is the old black cockade federal party in dis- 
guise — if I can show this to you, then I trust you 
will abandon such a party as tliat. 

HISTORY AND PROGRESS OP SL.A.VERV IK THE TEKlil- 
TORIES. 

It will be necessary to devote a few moments — and 
I shall be very brief upon that jjoint— to a liistory of 
the slavery <{uestion. This is necessary, because 
parties dispute as to what eacli professes. Each of 
tlie great ])arties of the country profess devotion to 
the constitutiou, and each eliarges upon the other the 
entertaining of views which it' denies. When such 
is the case we must look at tlie facts, and, as intelli- 
gent men, yon must judge who is right. When the 
government was formed we all know tliat slavery 
existed iu many of the states, and the government 
was formed upon the principle of letting the slavery 
(question alone, to be managed by the states in which 
it existed. But, so far as the federal government 
was concerned, it took cognizance of this question in 
the territories belonging to the United States. Tliis 
is a matter of history. Before the adoption of this 
constitution the territories which Iiad been ceded 
to the United States as they existed under the 
articles of the confederation, were governed 
by what was known as the ordinance of 17S7, and 
that ordinance, as you well know, excluded slavery 
from all the territor}' which then belonged to the 
United States. When the constitution was formed, 
shortly afterward, this subject was left in the same 
condition in which the convention found it. And 
now I wish you to bear in mind the distinctimi be- 
tween a state and territory — for a great deal of the 
confusion and difficulty which has arisen in the coun- 
trv iu regard to this question is by confounding states 
with territories. The whole question which now di- 
vides parties relates to the government of the terri- 
tories, not states at all. _ And they who sgek to con- 



found the two together must have some object to 
confuse the public mind. 'Tliis policy continued to 
exclude slavery from till the teiritoiies of the United 
States for many years. 'When Noith Carolina and 
Georgia ceded the wesiorn territory belonging to 
tho.se states to the United States, it was so well un- 
derstood that the federal guvernnient would abolish 
slavery in the territories which they ceded, un- 
less there was a j)invision against it, that 
such a clause was inserted in the deed of 
cession. In IS'iS, when we acquired Louisi- 
ana, slavery existed there. It remained, and 
Louisiana was admitted as a slave state. And 
when Missouri came to be admitted, in ISiiO, it was 
admitted on condition that the balance of the terri- 
tory lying north of -Si; degrees -'Ui minutes north lat- 
itucle, should renuiin free while it was a territory.— 
There has been a great deal of confusion in the pub- 
lic mind in regard to the meaning of the Missouri 
Compromise. That Compromise, or the clause of it 
in controversy, read something like this ; " That in 
all territory north of thirty-six degrees thirty min- 
utes north latitude, slavery or involuntary servitude, 
except as a penalty for crime, shall be and is hereby 
forever prohibited." Much stress has been laid, by 
those who seek to mislead the public mind, u])on the 
word " forever." This word " forever" makes the 
sentence a little more emphatic, but it gives to it no 
other meaning, in a legal point of view, tlian it would 
have had if this word liad been omitted. The Mis- 
souri Compromise related to tliat territory so long 
as it remained a teriitorv, but not a moment after- 
wards. It had no application to the country when 
admitted as a state, nor does any law Congress may 
pass for the governm''nt of a territory have opera- 
tion one moment utter that territory is admitted as a 
state. [Applause. J What was the object of repealing 
the Missouri Compromise 'i Was it to give the peo- 
ple, when the}' came to form a state government, the 
right to have slavery or not? Why, they had it with- 
out such repeal — [a voice — "That's so"] — just as 
perfectly as they had it after its repeal, because that 
provision of the law ceased to operate the moment 
the territory ceased to exist in a territorial condi- 
tion — the moment the state was formed — just as the 
act organizing the territory of Minnesota, so long 
as it remained a territory, provided a governor and 
judges, and the rules for the government of its leg- 
islature; but when Minnesota was admitted as a 
state they were -Al ijn-v facta abolished. Just so in 
regard to the Missouri compromise. 1 state this on 
this occasion to show that some other object was 
designed than that which is now professed in the 
repeal of the Missouri comprimise. The policy of 
the country, down to ls.54, was to keep the terri- 
tories free. Then a new policy was inaugurated. 
Now, what was the theory upon which the Mis- 
souri compromise was repealed 't I will state it as 
fairly as 1 know how for the benefit of those who 
effected that repeal. ]>id they not tell us that 
the Missouri compromise was repealed for the pur- 
pose of conferring upon the peoj)le of the terri- 
tory the right of self-govcrimieiit and popular sove- 
reigntj'? Wasn't that the avowed reason V [Cries of 
" "i es, yes."l W'ell, if if was for that reason, has not 
that reason been totally abandoned? [" Yes, that's 
so."] It is true that was the reason, and it was said 
by those who brought about that repeal that the 
people Of a territory should liave the same right to 
icgylate their domestic afl'.iirs as the people of a 
state, and I remember to have heard the position 
stated in this form : " Are you not cajjable of gov- 
erning yourselves in the .state of Illinois, and do you 
lose your senses, so that you can't govern yourselves 
the moment you pass over the line of a state into a 
territory? Arc you not as capable of governing 



yourselves there as here?" This was the form in 
which the question was .stated, and the appeal was 
made to all the people of the free states to endorse 
the repeal of the Missouri Cc)mpromise iipon this 
ground— and the ground alone — of leaving the peo- 
ple of the territory tree to regulate their own domes- 
tic affairs in their own way. This was the doctrine 
))rotessed until the Cincinnati Convention met in 1856; 
I mean j)rofessed in the North, for it never was the 
doctrine avowed by the South. When that conven- 
tion met they passed a resolution declaring that 
the people of each territory .should have the right 
to determine their domestic institutions, including 
slavery, when they came to form a state govern- 
ment. Here the idea w;.s first started that they 
should have that right when they formed a state go- 
vernment. Was that ever in controversy ? I Cries 
of" No ! no !" | Never. Did any one ever pretend that 
any body could form a constitution for the people of 
a state except the jjeople of the state themselves ? 
The people of a tiTrilory cannot by themselves put 
a state constitutiiui in operation. The constitutmn 
which they form has no effect — is not approved— 
until they are admitted into the Union as a .state. 
You all know this. Jlinnesota formed a constitu- 
tion, but did it come into force before she was ad- 
mitted as a state? Oregon formed a con.stitution, 
and yet is not a state. Kansas has had half a dozen 
constitutions and is not yet a state. [Cheers and 
laughter.] So that this application of the doctrine 
of popular sovereignty to the j)eople of a territory, 
in the formation of a .state constitution, which no one 
ever disputed, was an after thought — a change of 
doctrine. To liken it familiarly : Suppose a man 
were to go about the streets i)ioclaimmg the ab- 
solute right of a cliild to do as he pleased ; and 
you told him, " Sir, it will not do to let our lit- 
tle boys and girls do as they please ; they must 
be governed by their ])arents until they have ar- 
rived at an age when they are capable of 
taking care of themselves," and you satisfy 
him that this is so, and that the best interests of the 
child all require that he should be under the control 
of his parents until he arrives at an age when he is 
capable of taking care of himself. After you have 
satisfied the man of that, who has been crying out 
for the rights of the child, he turns around and hur- 
rahs for the rights of the child when he's twenty- 
one. [Laughter. I lie cries, "I am for the rights 
of the child — that is, I am for the rights of the cnild 
when he gets to be a man.'' [Renewed laughter.] 
Well, what do you wlio huriali for the popular sove- 
reignty of the people of a territory mean ? Do you 
mean that the people of a territory shall elect their 
own Governor? No. That they shall elect their 
own judges ? No. Do you mean they can pro- 
vide for a legislature ? No. Do you mean that 
they may keep slavery from being introduced 
among them ? No. Then what do j-ou mean ? 
" I mean when they cease to be a territory and 
come to be a state, and are twenty-one j-ears of 
age, [laughter and cheers] they may do as they 
please." Here is the change the rej)L'alers of the 
Missouri compromise have made in their professions. 
They all professed at the time the Missouri compro- 
mise was repealed to believe that slavery would not 
go into Kansas. We who were opposed to the re- 
peal of that law which excluded slavery from Kansas 
while a territory, told them the effect of it would be 
to open Kansas to slavery, and slaveiT would go 
there. They said it was no such thing — it was a 
slander upon them, for they were as nuich opposed 
to slavery as any one — it was an abolition lie — 
slavery would never go there, and the Missouri com- 
promise was not repealed for any such purpose. 
This was the profession. [Cries of " true, true."] 



t.7t> 






^Y 



What did We Say further ? Wc said slavery would 
be introduced, and when slavery got into the terri- 
tory it would be difficult to get it out. This 
they denied. What has been the practical ef- 
fect? The moment the Jlissouri compromise was 
repealed, slavery did go into Kansas — it is there to- 
day. That is the truth, which cannot be denied. Af- 
ter slavery got there, did the people have the right 
to exclude it y did the people have the right to do 
anytliingV You are too familiar with the history ot 
Kansas to require that I should go over it to-uight ; 
but you all know, that so far from the people of Kan- 
sas having the i-iglit to rcgidaic their own affairs on 
the subject of slavery, at tiie very first election which 
was held the settlers were driven from the polls, and 
a legislature was elected for them, and what did it 
doy The legislature passed a law punishing a man 
with chains and the penitentiary who should say 
slavery did not exist iu Kansas. If a man merely 
avowed such to be his opinion, he subjected him- 
self to the penitentiary. That legislature, when 
it met, imposed unconstitutional laws upon the 
people of Kansas — provided for the perpetua- 
tion of its power — appointed its officers for years 
— took the control ot all the affairs of the terri- 
tory, and, backed by the United States army, a per- 
fect despotism was forced upon the people, who, it 
was said, had had conferred upon them the great 
principles of self-government and popular sovereign- 
ty. [Loud and continued applause.] These are the 
facts. Let us follow this history along a little fur- 
ther. In process of time it was supposed that Kan- 
sas would wish to be admitted into the Union as a 
state. Her people, you remember, had formed one 
constitution, known as the " Topeka Constitution," 
.tablisnnig a free state. It was necessary to meet 
i's with something, and a bill was prepared in the 
late of the United States, by Mr. Douglas, author- 
) ig the people of Kansas to hold a convention 
id form a constitution. Several amendments 
..ere offered to that bill. Among others an 
amendment was offered by Mr. ' Toombs, of 
Georgia, and that bill subsequently passed the 
Senate. JVbw, fellow-citizeiig, I make the dk- 
tinct charge that there was a preconcerted arrange- 
ment and plot entered into hy tlif very men who 
noiv claim credit for (iiijiosiiiij a. cmixfifufion not suh- 
mitted to the p'eoph\h) Inr- <i ri,i,ytltiif;,,ii formed 
and put in force ivithout (lieliuj th>: ficoph- any oppor- 
tunity to pass upon it. [Great applause.] This, my 
friends, is a serious charge, but I charge it to-night, 
that the Viry m, h ivIk! trar. rs, ffi, \o>nttry, under 
banners pr^fhii mi n't jiojudur ■-:'ir, r. i.'nl n, hy design 
concocted it l.ill ,, II jiiirjKis, to fnrn <t c'niMiiutionon 
the people. I hace brought itdong ivith nie the evi- 
dence to prove the charge I rnake — -[applause] — 
because a charge of a serious character like this 
might be controverted by the men who claim credit 
for popular sovereignty unless I brought the evidence 
with me. I hold in' my hands the bill brought 
into the Senate of the United States by Mr. 
Toombs on the 2Gth June, Is.jt], containing a clause 
requinng the constitution which the convention 
should form to be submitted to the people for their 
ratification or rejection. That bill was referred to 
the Committee on Territories in the Senate of the 
United States, of which Judge Douglas is chairman. 
Judge Douglas, five daj-s afterwards reported back 
the bill I hold in my hand, making various altera- 
tions in it ; atnong 'othi-rs, striking out the clause 
requiring its submission to the people. He stated that 
on constdtat'ion with Mr. Toomhs, he had made these 
alterations. [Tremendous applause.] 

A voice — To whom did he make the statement? 
Mr. Trumbull— Zfj ma le it in, the Senate of the 
United States, and it is reported in the Congressional 
Globe ; and, sir, if you are a Douglas -man — 



Same voice— 1 am, sii'. 

Mr. Trumbull^'And you want to satisfy yourself 
that he was iu the plot to force a constitution upon 
that people ? I will satisfy you. [Cries of good, 
good; hit him again, ^nd cheers.] 1 will cram the 
ti'uth down any Tionest man's throat, until he cannot 
deny it. [Renewed cheers.] And to tlic man who 
does deny it, I will cram the lie down his throat, till 
he shall cry enough. [Tremendous cheering.] It 
is preposterous — it is the most damnable effrontery 
that man ever put on, to conceal a scheme to defraud 
and cheat a people out of their rights, and then 
claim credit for it. [Cries of " Hurrah for Trum- 
bull — hit him again — down with all such men."] 
That is not all, my Douglas friend — that is not all. cf> 
I, myself, humble as I am, and making no preten- ^ 
^ions other than to have performed my duty to the 
best of my abilit}- to the state that has honored me 
by placing me in the Senate, pointed this out two 
years ago. [Three cheers for Trumbull were given 
with great enthusiasm.] I stated that it was a little too 
much to call a convention in Kansas before knowing 
what was the wish of the people, and then to allow 
the fifty-two men which were to compose the con- 
vention, according to that bill, to put any sort of a 
constitution upon the people without allowing them 
to vote upon it. 

A Voice — What did Douglas say to it? 

Mr. Trumbull — What did he say ^ He was silent 
as the grave, and voted for the bill ^ [Applause.] It 
passed the Senate, but was defeated in the House. 
Mind yotj, now, this was before the Presidential elec- 
tion. [Cheers and laughter.] It was before the 
thunders of the Frernottt vote liAul rolled doion to 
Washington, ait.d frightened the men that were there. 
[Applause.] It was before the free people of Illinois 
had swept the plunderers from the state ccipitol, and 
installed in their places free men, and the friends of 
free men. [Renewed applause.] It woulil not clo 
to rish that policy mttcli, longer. [Laughter and ap- 
plause.] 

LECOMPTOX. 

The people of Kansas, it is said — or I will say, 
rather, the Legislature of Kansas which had been 
imposed upon that people — made provision, about a 
year ago, for calling a convention to form a consti- 
tution, and they laid their plans in such a way that 
they had the power in their own hands, Thej' took 
a registry, or pretended to t>>,ke a registry, of the 
voters. They made the registry so as to give them- 
selves a majority. ' They apportioned the represent- 
ation throughout the State, and out of thirty-five 
counties, to nineteen counties they gave no repre- 
sentation at all ; all the delegates were from the othei- 
sixteen. And that convention met and adopted 
what is called the " Lecompton Constitution." [A 
voice, " That is true. I'm a Douglas man."| That 
constitution was a slavery constitution, in any event ; 
it was submitted to the people iu what form 
they would have slavery — whether the slavery 
which was there should be continued perpetually, or 
whether future slavery should be prohibited from 
entering the territory. A vote was taken upon the 
alternative proposition. Now down to this period, 
and the formation of the Lecompton constitution, all 
these outrages in Kansas — and 1 need not stop to re- 
peat them, for they are familiar to you all — down to 
this period, they were all justified by the men who 
now claim credit for opposing one of the series of 
acts growing out of the repeal of the Missouri com- 
promise. VVhen this constitution was sent to Con- 
gress, the Republicans, as a matter of course, were 
opposed to it — they were opposed to the bogus 
laws from beginning to end — opposed to tlie usur- 
pation ; they were opposed to the despotism, and 
thsy, as a matter of course, were opposed to this Le- 
comptoa constitution — its legitimate offspring. Some 



of those who had justified all the previous outrages 
in Kansas opposed it also, and I have heard it said 
that mv distinifuished colleague claims credit forop- 
posingit and killing it. AVhy, my fellow-citizens, 
my colleague was brushed iv't ot' f'e way as you 
would brush away a fly. In the Senate of the Unit- 
ed States they passed it over the iieads of the Ke- 
publicans with all tiie assistance Judge Douglas 
could give us. lie was counselling with us, and ad- 
vising with us, ami attemjiting to devise plans by 
whicii it cotdd In- defeated, yet it went through the 
Senate with a decided majority, but in the House of 
Representatives, wliere the Republicans were 
st.-onger, they made a stand aganist it, and the 
question was taken on rejecting this Lecompton 
constitution, this fraudulent conqern, and but a sin- 
gle so-called democrat voted against it. Major Hai-- 
ri<, of this slate, was the only one who united with 
the Republicans, and came up like a man and voted 
to reject and kill the tiling forever. [Good for One 
man— three cheers for Harris.) Fellow-citizens, I 
do not mean there was but one man voted against 
it — I think there were ninety-five, but we got but 
little help from these men who claim credit for hav- 
ing defeated it; that is what I mean to say. The 
proposition was made to amend the bill, and it re- 
sulted in what you know as the English — I believe 
some people call it — swindle. Rnt it is no matter 
what it was, the people of Kansas buried it out of 
sight on Monday last. [Great cheers.] Now, where 
are these men, who, upon that matter united with 
the Republicans — where are they ? They say they 
differed with the administration upon a single meas- 
ure. What was that measure '? Why, it was on the 
adoption of the Lecompton constitution, and admit- 
ting Kansas into the Union as a state luider it. 
Well, that was a temporary issue, and is dead, 
buried, past and gone lorever. There is the end of 
it. Wliere are the men, then, who united with the 
Republicans to defeat that iniquity and fraud, who 
have proclaimed in loud tones that it was a 
swindle, and that there was an \ndioly attempt 
to force that swindle upon the people of Kan- 
sas y They have gone back and united with 
those men who conspired to force this constitution 
upon tiie people of Kansas against their will, (they 
are a singular sort of associates for honest men to 
nick out J and they claim to stand with them. Now, 
I wisli that this burying of the Lecompton constitu- 
tion by the peo])le was the end of this question, and 
that freedom might triumph forever afterwards. 
But the contest is not ended. This is but one of a 
series of acts adopted by this party in l^.")4, when 
the policy of the country was changed in regard to 
the goveioment of the territories on the subject of 
slavery. 

THE riliSPOTISX at WASHIXtiTOX. 

The power which was then inaugurated in using 
all the depaitments of this government, not merely 
to extend slavery into Kansas and bring it in as a 
slave state, but to make all the interests of this great 
country subordinate to the slave power. The des- 
potism' of Wasliiiigton is almost as cruel as that 
which has prevailed in Kansas. There is not, hold- 
ing office throughout this vast country, a single man 
who is known to entei'lain views in ojiposition to the 
right to take slaves into free territories. It is an ut- 
ter dis()ualification for ofiiee. All the departments 
at Washington are organized upon the plan of pro- 
scribing men who believe that slavery should be ex- 
cluded frcnn the free territories. All the committees 
in (."oiigi-ess — or all the important ones — which ma- 
ture the business for the action of ("ongress, are un- 
der the control of this same power. The Supreme 
Court is under the control of this same power. 
You all recollect the case which excited tlie 
whole country two years ago, when a Senator 



of the United States was .struck down and 
beaten nearly to death in his seat in the Senate 
Chamber, for uttering his honest sentiment in oppo- 
sition to this slavery propagandism. Rut a worse 
state of things than that exists to-day. The gentle- 
man who was thus stricken down in the vigor of 
manhood, and has been suttering from that day to 
this, and who, his best friends fear, may never re- 
cover, suffering with anguish and pain and torture, 
from blows intlicted upon him unawares and without 
notice — that gentleman, now just able to walk, has 
since made his appearance in the Senate Chamber, 
having been re-elected by the people of the state of 
Massachusetts, and when he comes there and rises 
with difliculty from his chair, two years alter the act 
was done, for which some may plead the excuse that 
it was done under excitement — I say now, the very 
men in the interest of this power affect to treat him 
with contempt. [Cries of " Shame, shame."] Would 
you believe it? Not a northern senator belonging to 
this pro-slavery party dares even to speak to him lest 
he offend his southern associated Yes, during the last 
session of Congress, wlien upon one occasion it was 
stated in the Senate that the senator from Massachu- 
setts had paired ofl' with some other member, who was 
also indisposed, a sneer of contempt was observed 
through the chamber at the idea of his indisposition, 
and tlie leaders of the i)ro-slavery democracy affect 
to believe that it is a pretence on'the part of a man 
who has been suffering these two years. In my 
judgment the world has never seen exhibited such 
refined malignity and cruelty as this attempt to treat 
with scorn that suffering man. This is worse a 
thousand ibid than the spirit which under excite- 
ment could strike the blow, for this is meditated and 
continued malice. [Loud applause. | 

A Yoice — Three cheers for Sumner. ]The cheers 
were given heartily.] 

I mention this, my fellow-citizens, to show the 
condition of things at Washington. Let me tell you 
another fact. 1 went as your representative two 
years ago to Washington, almost an entire stranger, 
never having met more than two or three members 
of the Senate in my life. 1 remained there as one 
of the representatives of this state through two ses- 
sions of Congress, sent there to consult with the re- 
presentatives of other co-equal slates for the best 
good of a common country, and for those two years 
was not placed on a committee which ever met. Re- 
publican senators were not consulted — w^e were ig- 
nored by this proscriptive, intolerant party, that 
made adhesion to the interests of the slave power 
the only test by which they allowed a person to take 
part in the proceedings of government wherever 
they could prevent it." A little diftereiit state of 
things prevailed after the Fremont election in 1S.")H. 
But "let me tell you how it is now. The com- 
mittees were organized anew at the commence- 
ment of the last session of Congress, and I have 
with me a list of them. On looking at it you will 
find that all the leading committees are not only en- 
tirely in the interest of this pro-.slavery i)arty, but 
are controlled by southern men. The Committee on 
Foreign Relations is one of the most important. It 
is j)resided over by ilason, of Yirginia, and a ma- 
j(n-ity of that committee are from the southern states. 
The Committee on the Judiciary is presided over by 
Bayard, of Delaware, and a majority of that commit- 
tee" sire from the southern states. The Committee on 
Naval Afiairs is presided over by Mallory,of Florida, 
and a majority of that committee are from the south- 
ern states, the Committee on Military All'airs is 
presided over bv Davis, of Mississippi. On I'ost- 
olliccs by Yulee,'of Florida. The Connnittee on Fi- 
nance by Hunter, of Yirginia. Southern men are at 
the head of all those committees. That on Com- 
merce is presided over by Clay, of Alabama ; that on 



Indian Affairs by Sebastian, of Arkansas ; I believe 
there are one or two other committees besides that on 
Territories, of which Mr. Doughis is the chairman, the 
chairmanship of wliich is given to the North ; per- 
haps the Committee on Enrolled Bills, or something 
of that kind. Now, the northern or free states con- 
stitute a majority, and you see how powerless they 
are in the business of the Senate. This is so, not 
only in regard to the distribution of the business of 
Congress, but in the appropriations. Ai, the last 
session of Congress, more than three-fourths of all 
the monev appropriated for fortifications on the At- 
lantic and the Gulf coast was appropriated for forti- 
fications in slaveholding states. There are two 
buildings in the South erected for custom-house pur- 
poses—one at New Orleans and the other at Charles- 
ton—not vet completed, and no estimates yet fur- 
nished of "what the cost of completion will be. Al- 
ready more than five millions of dollars have been ap- 
propriated to build these two houses alone. There's 
where the money goes. The last Congress appropria- 
ted $450,000 to continue the work upon them; and 
when I inquired in the Senate, of the chairman of the 
Committee of Finance, how uuich the custom-house at 
Charleston was to cost when completed, he replied 
that no estimate had been made ; but the inquiry led 
to the disclosure of the fact that a marble palace 
was being built fronting on a iish market on one 
side, which had already cost, with the appropriation 
then asked, some two millions of dollars, and it 
would cost some three millions before it would be 
finished. How many men do you suppose are to 
occupy this building when finished? Forty-eight 
was the number of employes in lb.')7, the last year 
reported, and the amount'of revenue collected was 
a little over $r.00,000. [Laughter.] The so-called 
democracy want, for the accommodation of these 
forty-eight persons, and to collect 1^500,000, a build- 
ing to cost three millions ! In the great city of 
New York there is a custom-house — many of you 
have seeu it — a fine building it is, and it cost about 
eleven hundred thousand dollars. How many per- 
sons do you suppose are employed at the New York 
Custom-House, and how much revenue collected? 
The last year rejiorted more than forty-two millions 
of dollar's collected at New York, and there were 
more than a thousand persons employed in its col- 
lection, and a building costing a little over a mil- 
lion was sufficient to do the business in. Do a"ou sup- 
pose such an appropriation as that for the Custom 
House at Charleston could be obtained to erect a 
public building in the northern states? [No, no.] 
The Custom House in the city of Philadelphia only 
cost some four or five hundred thousand dollars ; 
that in Boston about a million, while that in New 
Orleans has cost more than three millions. [A voice 
—" And sinking at that." Laughter.] Yes, sinking 
at that. Like the treasury, my friends, it is based 
on a sandy foundation. [Renewed laughter.] While 
three-fourths of the money appropriated for fortifi- 
cation of the last session is to be expended in slave 
states, not a dollar was appropriated for the fortifi- 
cations at the northwestern frontier. While the 
party can appropriate five millions to build two 
houses — one at Charleston and the other at New 
Orleans — how much money do you suppose it appro- 
priated at the last session to save the hundi'eds of 
lives lost in sight of your city, upon this lake, and 
to save the millions of property that annually go 
down to the bottom for want of some little improve- 
ment of your great harbors? Not a dollar could be 
obtained for such a purpose. 

THK DRED SCOTT DECISIOX. 

Now what did this party design by the policy in- 
augurated in 1854? I have shown" you how they 



have gone on, step by step, advancing first one opin- 
ion, tiien another, and then another, until they have 
got slavery into Kansas ; denying first the power of 
Congress to exclude it, then denying the power of 
the people of a territory, while in a territorial con- 
dition, to exclude it. Next, they will deny the power 
of the people when they form a state constitution 
to exclude it ; and that such is the next step to bo 
taken is manifest from the Dred Scott decision. I 
wish, fellow-citizens, to get before you, if I can, 
a clear idea of that l)red Scott decision, and what 
it decided in that case. The case was this: 
A man by the name of Dred Scott brought a suit 
for his freedom in the United States Court in 
Missouri, on the ground that he had been taken 
by his master to Rock Island, in this state, and 
there held for some time, and afterwards taken to Fort 
Snelling, Minnesota, which was then a territory, and 
a part of the Louisiana purchase, from which slavery 
was excluded by the Missouri compromise ; and he 
insisted that by virtue of the laws of Illinois and the 
laws of the territory in which he was at Fort Snel- 
ling, he was a free man. The defence set up this 
plea : That Dred Scott was a negro, descended from 
parents who were imported from Africa and held as 
slaves, and being such negro he had no authority to 
sue in the United States courts, laid, therefore, the 
court had no jurisdiction over the case. Now, the 
defendant didn't set up that Dred Scott was a slave, 
mind you. He said he was a negro, descended from 
slave parents. * ■» * -:<■ * 

What did the Supreme Court decide? They de- 
cided that a person of the character described in the 
plea had no authority to bring a suit in the United 
States Court, and they dismissed the case for want 
of jurisdiction, stating the court had no authority to 
enter any judgment in the case, because a negro had 
no right to sue in that court. Now, was not that the 
end of the case? It ouglit to have been the end of 
it ; but for political reasons the judges go on and 
give their opinions separately upon the authority of 
Congress to exclude slavery from the country in 
which Fort Snelling was located — which was unne- 
cessary to the decision. The result of the case did 
not determine whether Dred Scott was a slave or 
a freeman, and the question of the authority of 
Congress to pass a law excluding slavery from 
the territory north of S6 degrees SO minutes was 
not involved ; because, if the negro could have 
dei'ived his freedom from being in a region of coun- 
try where slavery was prohibited by law, he had it 
by residing at Rock Island. The state of Illinois 
had abolished slavery, and if the fact of his having 
been brought within a free jurisdiction gave liim 
freedom, he had it by residing in this state. But 
the judges, for political purposes, go on and express 
their opinions concerning the authority of Congress 
and a territorial legislature to pass laws excluding 
slavery from a territorj^ ; such oi^inions are extra- 
judicial and of no binding force. I state this for the 
benefit of that class of citizens who are very much 
disinclined to make any attack upon tlie decision 
of the court. These are the opinions of the Judges 
separately given upon questions not before them ; 
and are they not to he censured for going out of the 
case to express such opinions? [" Yes, yes."] There 
is no importance in these opinions, as judicial deci- 
sions at all, and they are only important in this respect 
— they have been adopted by the great democratic 
party, so called, as a part of its creed, and Mr. Bu- 
chanan says that slavery exists in Kansas and Ne- 
braska as effectually as it does in South Carolina 
and Georgia, under these opinions. Hence it be- 
comes very important to look to the opinions of 
these judges, as pointing out the creed of the party 
which is now in power, and which they are endeav- 



ing to enforce upon the country. I should have no 
sort of respect for such u decision, in any event. If 
there had been a decision of the court upon the point, 
when directly before tlieui, that Congress had no au- 
thoritj" to pass a law excluding slavery from a territo- 
ry, I would have treated that decision in the particu- 
lar case as binding, but I would have treated it with 
utter contempt as applied to any other case. I have no 
scruples in .assailing the infallibility of the men who 
wear gowns, any more tliau I have those who wear 
crowns. [Cries of " Good," " good ;" " that's 
right," and great cheers.] Despotism is despotism, 
whether practised by crowned heads or by men cloth 
ed in gowns. [Renewed cheers.] lam not mhamed 
to apiJtal f I'om the obiter dicta opinions of supreme jud- 
ges subversive of the constitution. Felioiv citizens, I 
acknowled<ie a power hiijher than Presidents, higher 
than Congress, higher than supreme courts, and to that 
power, whose name is the people, I will appeal. [Tre- 
mendous cheering.] The people make Presidents and 
courts, and when tyranny takes piossession of tliose 
they have placed in power,the peo2)le loho are sovereigns 
and who are above all their servants, mill fake the pow- 
er into their own hands. [" Good," " good," " that's 
so."] The Supreme Court of the United States had 
repeatedlj' decided, prior to the Dred Scott case, that 
Congress had power to pass laws governing the ter- 
ritories. When it was presided over by Marshall, the 
court held that iu t'ue government of the territories 
Congress possessed the combined power of the state 
and the federal government. Those people who talk 
to tis about appealing from the decision of the courts 
to the popular assembly, what have they done V 
Why, over here at Cincinnati, when they met to lay 
down their creed and declare what they were for, they 
said in so many words that Congress had no power to 
establish a national bank. The Supreme Court had 
decided that Congress had the power. Where was 
their reverence for it then ? [Applause and laughter.] 
They cannot appeal from the decision of the court to 
the people, (the source of all power,) but they can ap- 
peal to this convention in Cincinnati. And I will not 
undertake to describe that convention ; Colonel Ben- 
ton once described it. [Laughter.] I would sooner 
have the decision of the people than of such a set ot 
men. IJut, fellow-citizens, the self-styled democracy 
not only set at naught a decision of the court in their 
party platform, but while professing general devotion 
to the court, and to believe that a court can do no 
wrong, they have made it a part of their creed that 
11 single state has the authority to set aside the de- 
cision of the court of Congress and the Executive. 
Do you recollect the resolutions of Cincinnati ? I 
believe I have them here. One of the resolutions 
adopted declares — 

Tliat tlic democratic party will faithfully abide by and 
uphold tlie principles laid <lown in the Kciituclcy and Vir- 
ginia legislatures in 1T9S, ami in tlie report of Mr. Madison 
to tlic Virginia legislature in 1799; tliat it adopts those 
principles as constifuling one of the main foundations of 
its political creed, and is resolved to carry them out in their 
obvious meaning and import. 

Do you remember what resolutions these were ? 
They were the nuUitication resolutions. [Laughter.] 
Hero is one of them. This was in the Kentucky 
legislature, in 1798 : 

Resolved, Tliat this government, created by the compact 
(the conslilulion) was liol made the exclusive or 11 rial judge 
of the extent of the powers delegated to itself, since that 
would have made its disi;retion, and not the eorislitution, 
the measure of its i>i)wers ; but that, as in all cases of com- 
pact among parties having tio common judge, each party 
has an equal right to judgo for itsolf, as well of infraclions, 
as of the mode and measure of redress. 

In November, 1799, the Kentucky legislature re- 
affirmed the principle of these resolutions, and 
added the following : 



That the several states who formed that instrument 
being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable 
right to judge of the Infraction; and that a nullification 
by those sovoreignties of all unauthorized acts done under 
color of that inilrumont, is the rightful remedy. 

NulHHcation by a state, which lias the right to 
judge for itself of the infractions of the constitu- 
tion, is the rightful remedy ! Now, look at these 
men coming up to charge the Republican party 
with a great sacrilege in assailing the obiter dicta 
opinions of the Supremo Court, and at the same 
time pledging themselves in their party platform to 
the right of any state to determine at its pleasure 
and for itself what the constitution means, in deli- 
ance of a decision of tlie Suprame Court and the 
Executive, and to nullify an act of Congress which 
both sustain. [" That's it" — " good, good."] This 
is the consistency they exhibit when they make 
such assaults upon us. But, fellow-citizens, if we 
are required to submit to the decisions of the 
Supremo Court, as to the authority of Congress 
to exclude slavery from a territory, and if it be 
true that the people of a territory have no au- 
thority, as the Judges of the Supreme Court 
in the Dred Scott opinion say — if the peo- 
ple of the territory while in a territori- 
al condition have no power to exclude slavery 
from their midst, has not that Court the same right 
to decide whether a state may exclude slavery? 
Look whither this doctrine tends. If neither the 
Congress nor the people can exclude slavery from a 
territory, because the constitution of the United 
States is the paramount law of the land, and carries 
slavery with it, then the states cannot exclude slav- 
ery, because the constitution of the United States is 
the paramount law of the laud in the states as well 
as the territories ; and if there is anything in that 
instrument wliicli extends slavery into tlie territo- 
ries, the same provision must extend it into the 
states also. Well, suppose the Supreme Court decide, 
as they are bound to decide if they carry out the dec- 
triue they have announced in that Dred Scott case, 
that by virtue of the constitution slavery is extended 
into all the free states of this Union, are these 
gentlemen prepared to submit to that? [Cries of 
" No, no."] You are just as much bound to submit to 
it as to this opinion that carries slavery into the 
territories, and the man who defends the one must 
sustain the other. That is the necessary consequence 
of the doctrine laid down. There is now a case 
pending, known as the " Lemmon case," and when 
the country gets prepared to receive the decision, 
you will probably hear again, from the Supreme 
Court of the United States, the doctrine announced, 
that under the constitution, slavery goes into all of 
the states of the Union. That instrument, which 
our fathers made for securing the blessings of liber- 
ty, is thus to be perverted by the decision of this 
court, to become an instrument for the spread of 
slavery against the will of the people. This neces- 
sarily results from the doctrine already advanced, if 
acquiesced in and carried out to its legitimate con- 
sequences. 

THE PUBLIC EXPBXDITaRES. 

But I tind I am spending so much time upon this 
slavery question that I am becoming somewhat 
hoarse, and as I wish to say something to you in re- 
gard to the expenditures of the government, and 
show that the party in power is as false to its other 
professions as it is to these it has at different times 
set up on the slavery question, I will pass for a few 
moments to that subject. The expenses of the gov- 
ernment, as you haveprobaby often heard, have in- 
creased enormously within a few years. The amount 
of money at the disposal of government for this year 
is more than one hundred millions of dollars. This 



I know has sometimes been disputed ; but I have 
here the official statement made by the clerk of the 
House of Representatives, showing that more than 
eighty-one millions were specifically appropri- 
ated at the last session of Congress, and there 
are indefinite appropriations to pay claims, the 
precise amount of which is not j'et known, which 
amount, at the lowest estimate to three mil- 
lions and a half, making over eighty-four millions, 
and there is an nnexpected balance of app''opriations 
made last year, amounting to more than sixteen mil- 
lions. These sums altogether make more than a 
hundred millions of dollars at the disposal of the ad- 
ministration for the present fiscal year. I know it 
is said that it is unfair to charge all this to this j^ear ; 
that a surplus will remain at the end of this year to 
be carried to the next list ; but I think it is much 
•more likely that tlie administration will come in 
witli a deficiency bill, and ask for some ten millions 
more, as they did at the last Congress, than that any 
surplus will remain. The expenses of the govern- 
ment during the administration of Gleneral Pierce 
were S23:?,8-'0,032. This is more than all the ex- 
penses of the government from 1790, when it was or- 
ganized, for thirty years together, including the war 
with Great Britain in 1812. General Pierce expend- 
ed more money during four years of peace than 
our government expended for the first thirty 
years after its organization. In 1823, the expenditures 
of the government for all purposes, exclusive of 
the public debt, were $0,784,154 59. In 1857 the ex- 
penses of the government, exclusi^T; of the public 
debt, were $65,032,559 76. The p)-o rata, according 
to the population of 1S23, was 94 cents on each in- 
dividual. The^7w )-ata in 1857 was $2 28 per man — 
94 cents to §2 28, according to population. Now 
these facts ought to attract the attention of the coun- 
try ; but perhaps if I were to state in detail some of 
the wastefulness of this government — some of the 
means by which these expenses have been increased, 
it would strike some minds more forcibly. I will 
■call your attention to the city of Chicago. You have 
a custom-house located here. In 1852, or for the fis- 
cal year endini; in June, 1853, the last year of Fill- 
more's administration, there was collected at Chi- 
cago $111,808 86. Six men were employed to col- 
lect it, and they were $2,892 12. That was a 
little over two per cent. For the year ending 
June 30, 1856, there was collected at Chicago .^145,- 
662 40. Sixteen men were employed in its collec- 
tion, and they were paid §14,349 29 for doing it. 
'Now I ask you, living right here as you do, is there 
any reason for this increased expenditure? Can 
you tell me any reason why it cost ten per cent, the 
last fiscal year to collect the revenue at this port, 
and only a little over two per cent, four years ago. 
Is there any reason for it except that the govern- 
ment wanted to shower the money upon favorites. 
[Yes, there is a reason.] I don't know what it is. 
[" The democratic party must be sustained." — 
Laughter and applause.] I think that is the best 
reason. [Renewed laughter.] They must sustain 
the office-holders. But Chicago is only a single 
case. I have the official report here, and I will 
state a few other cases to show you how the 
government expends money. There are some other 
points where the expenditures for collecting the 
revenue are much worse than at this point. At 
Wilmington, Delaware, there ivas collected in 1857, 
$2,004 95. Hoiv many men do you suppose it took to 
(■ollect that amount, and how much do you supjjose 
yiey got for it ? It tool- eight men, and the experse of 
Wtecting was $15,848 38 ! [Laughter.] Gentlemen, 
you began entirely too soon. Th-ese are tJie better sort 
of cases. At Annapolis, in Maryland, there was col- 
tected same year, $374 25. [Renewed laughter.] How 



many hivn do you ■vinpo^K. it took to colh'ct that .'' It 
took four men, and tliey were paid for their services, 
$983 42. At Ocracoke, in North ' Carolina, $82 55 
ivere collected in 1857. [Laughter.] It took seven 
men to do it. [Laughter.] And an economical 
government, under a democratic administration, 
2)riding itself on its economy, paid seven men 
to collect this $82 55, the sum of $2,301 52. [Laugh- 
ter.] At PoH Oxford, Oregon Territory— 
now, you loould expect something extravagant 
over there — there was collected $5 So, and it \ooh 
two men to called it, and^ they were paid for collecting 
$2,703 08. [Great laughter.] Can any of you make 
the calculation of the per centage that was paid to col- 
lect the $5 85. Ibelieve it was about five nundred to 
one. Don't you thinh the government ought to get 
rich? At Monterey, California, the amount collected 
in 1857 ivas $45 28, three men were employed to collect 
it, and paid for doing it $7,050 95. At Buffalo there 
icas collected, in 1857, $10,140 53. There were ten men 
employed in its collection, and tliey were paid $1Q,89Q 
51. I tvill not weary you by reading this report fur- 
ther. It is the ojficial report from the Secretay of' the 
Treasury, in answer to a 'resolution of the Senate 
calling upon him to know how many employees he 
had at the different Custom-houses ; what he paid 
them; how much was collected, &c., and here 
is the official report from every collection dis- 
trict in the United States. I have singled out a 
part of them as examples. [" When can we have 
the report y"J You can have this published, 
it is a pubhc document. [" Has Doudas got it?"] 
I presume he has, for he sustains the administration 
on every point save one. I will now give you some 
account ot the total expense of collecting the revenue 
for several years past. In 1850 Congress passed a 
law appropriating $2,450,000 annually to defray the 
expenses of collecting the revenue east of the Rocky 
Mountains. During Taylor's and Fillmore's admin- 
istration the whole revenue east of the Rocky Moun- 
tains was collected for about two million dollars per 
annum, leaving a surplus of more than ^1,600,000 at 
the end of the four years. During the four years of 
the administration of General Pierce he used up the 
;r;2,450,000 per annum and every dollar of the $1,600,- 
000 remaining over from the Fillmore administration 
besides. After Mr. Buchanan came into power, Mr. 
Secretary Cobb, in his first report, asked Congress to 
appropriate $3,700,000 annually to collect the reve- 
nue in the same district of countiy where only about 
$2,000,000 had been required five years before. 
What was the reason for this vast increase of ex- 
pense ? None was given. Congress did not appro- 
pi'iate the $3,700,000 asked for, but it did appropriate 
$3,300,000 for collecting the revenue east of the 
Rocky Mountains. The amount of the revenue col- 
lected is less than during Fillmore's administration, 
when it was collected for $2,000,000. The reason of 
this increase is partly because supernumerary offi- 
cers have been employed. Gen. Pierce added more 
than threehundred clerks to the Custom House in New 
York, and I suppose they were paid over $1,000 apiece 
— that alone would make $300,000 ; and so it was that 
the average annual expense of collecting the revenue 
this side of California during the Pierce administra- 
tion was nearly a million more than during Fill- 
more's ; and during the first year of Buchanan's 
administration they want $1,300,000 more to col- 
lect the revenue for a single year than it 
took four years before. Fellow-citizens, are 
you for continuing this state of things ? Does 
it meet your approbation ? [" No, no, no."] Do 
you not think it would be better to take some of this 
monej', thus squandered upon partisan favorites, to 

Erotect your immense commerce, to improve your 
arbors, and save the lives of your citizens on these 



great lakes? [Cries of " Yes, yes."] I suppose 
that would be luiconstitiitional in the opinion of the 
I'uliiiff dynasty [laughter], but it is not unconstitu- 
tionalto pay a man hve hundred dollars to collect 
one. [Laughter.] I could detain you, fellow citi- 
zens, for hours in pointing out the extravagances 
of the past and present administrations, with all 
their professions of econom}-. liut I have said 
enough, I trust, to call your attention to the mat- 
ter. I have stated the gross amount which the go- 
vernment is using per annum, and you will find tliat 
for the last five years more money was expended 
than for the first thirty-five years of the govern- 
ment. The increase of expenditures is many times 
as great as the increase of population, or the extent 
of country, and there is no reason for this. But there 
is not oniy extiavagance in the collection of the rev- 
enue, but in all branches of the public service. They 
are in the habit at Washington of multiplying oflices. 
Judicial districts are divided when there is no cause 
for it, and when the public service does not require 
it ; and then judges, and marshals and attorneys are 
appointed, and the expense of courts is incurred. 
Ports of entry are established when there is no oc- 
casion for them, and immense sums of mouej' are 
lavashed upon favorite places in the construction of 
magnificent palaces. I verily believe that this gov- 
ernment can be carried on, and properly carried on, 
for less than one-half the money now used by this ad- 
ministration professing economy [cheers and loud 
applause] ; and I ask you now if I have not made good 
the charge that the professions of this party are all 
false with legard to economy as to freedom.* [Cries 
of " Yes ! yes !"] Then I ask you, is it to be sus- 
tained ? r am satisfied that the people of this coun- 
try cannot approve of these things. You cannot 
believe in the professions of men who practice 
directly the reverse of what they profess. You 
cannot" believe that men are sincerely for eoouomy, 
when they are plundering the public treasury ; and 
if you don't hurl from power such a party the first 
opportunity you have, it must be because you fear 
that those who arc to succeed them will do no better. 
Now, is that so ? [Cries of " No ! no !" 1 

■WHAT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY PROPOSES. 

What does the Republican party propose ? I shall 
detain you but a few minutes upon that point. We 
propose, upon the slavery question, to leave it ex- 
actly where the men who framed the constitution 
left "it. We are for leaving the question of slavery, 
where it exists in the states, to be regulated by the 
states as they think proper ; and we are for keeping 
the territories which belong to the United States free 
from the invasion of slavery so long as they remain 
territories — [cheers] — leaving them when they be- 
come states, of course, to deal with their black popu- 
lation as they shall think best; for we have no pow- 
er then to interfere with the subject. There is no 
question what the result will be. If there is no 
slavery in the territory, there will be none when the 
people come to make a state. I want to appeal to 
the candor of those who are honoring me with 
their attention, whether they be democrats or 
Republicans — for there are but two parties — it is 
idle to talk about a third part}' — a Douglas party, or 
anything of that kind. There is no middle ground ; 
veil must take one side or the other. If 3-011 sustain 
the measures of this self-styled democratic Jiarty, : 
you are one of them; if you sustain the measures of j 
the Republican i>arty, you must go M'ith them, and , 
there is no third party" to unite with. We wish to ! 
ask you, men of all parties, if von are opposed to the 
introduction of slavery into Illinois. I apjirehend 
that you are — that all this audience will respond 
with " We are opposed to it." If that is so, yuu liave j 



your reasons for it. You think it better for the 
white race that there should be no slavery here; en- 
tertaining that view, you will exclude it. Now, is 
there a father who would do less in the formation 
of a government for his children and his posterity 
than he will for himself Is there an honest man 
here who can say, " I will exclude slavery from the 
state and locality where I live, because I believe 
it an evil ; but I will suflfer it to go in where 
my children are to go." Here is a common terri- 
t(jry. You are the Congress of the United States. 
The constitution of the United States says that Con- 
gress shall make all needful rules and regulations re- 
specting the territories of the United States. Here 
is a territoiy about to be settled; you are called 
upon to frame a government for the people who are 
to go there, which is to last so long, and only so 
long, as the territorial condition continues. Now 
what sort of government is it your duty to frame ? 
You willreadily admit that it is your duty to form 
such a government as will be for the best interests of 
the people who are to go there. Is not that so ? 
[Cries of " Yes, yes, that's so."] You believe it to 
be for your best interests to exclude it from Illinois, 
where you live. Is it not then for the best interests 
of your child, and sister, and brother, and neighbor, 
who are going to the territory, that slavery should 
not go with them ? Will you "do less for them than 
for yourselves y A man is not deserving the name 
of man who is so selfish that he will protect him- 
self from an evil, yet will not raise his arm, when 
he has the power, to protect his child and his 
friend from the same evil. [Great cheers.] Then 
it is your duty to exclude slavery from that territory 
until there are people enough there to come to act 
for themselves. That is exactly what we propose to 
do, and nothing more. That was what the fathers 
of the republic did. Is there anything wrong in 
that V I think if you will look at this matter can- 
didly, you will see that it is right, and that it is j-our 
duty to insist upon it. The charge that we want to 
have anything to do with negroes is utterly untrue. 
It is a false clamor raised to mislead the public 
mind. Our policy is to have nothing to do with 
them ; and I, myself, am very nuich inclined to 
favor the project suggested by Jlr. Blair, of Jlissouri, 
at the last session of Congress. lie suggested a 
plan for colonizing our free negroes who are willing 
to go somewhere in Central America, where an 
arrangement could be made by which their rights 
may De secured to them. The policy now is 
such as to prevent emancipation ; and although 
we do not want to interfere with the domestic insti- 
tution of slaverv in the states, still we wish to inter- 
pose no obstacle to the people of those states in 
getting rid of their slaves whenever the\' think 
fit to do so. We know that may of the free states 
have passed laws prohibiting the emancipation of 
slaves by their masters, unless they are taken out of 
the state. The result of this legislation is that eman- 
cipation must cease; there are thousands of free ne- 
groes in Virginia ; but that policy is now stopped, 
because it is impracticable, there being no way of 
disposing of the negroe when emancipated. Many 
masters in the South desu'c to emancipate their 
slaves, and especially is this the case as they ap- 
proach death ; for, however they may reason while 
in health, and thoughtless of that' event which 
levels all alike, they are very apt, in making up 
their last account and disposing of their property, 
to think of the wrong and injustice they have done 
by holding some of their fellow-men in bondage, 
and they are quite willing to emancipate them. 
Thousands would be emancipated if there was any 
place to which they could go. /, for one, am xerif 
much dUp'jsul to ' facor the colon izdt ion of ifm^, 



suffer them to qo off in a country htj the 
Centred Amencaii country geems to he o 



'rtr negroes as are ivillivg to go to Centred Ameri- 
ca. I want to have nothing to do either iintJi. the fne 
mgro or the slave negro. We, the Kepullican paiiy, 
are the white man's party. [Great applause.] We 
are for free white men, and for making white 
labor respectable and honorable, which it never 
can be when negro slave labor is brought into com- 
petition with it. [Great applause.] AVe wish to set- 
tle the territoiies with free white men, and we are 
willing that this negro race should go anywhere that 
it can to better its condition, wishing them God 
speed wherever they go. We believe it is better for 
us that they should not be among us. I believe it 
will be better for them to go elsewhere. 

A Voice — Where to ? 

Mr. Trumbull — / would say to any Central Ame- 
rican, state that will make an. arrangement by tvhich 
they can he secure in their rights vntil they arrive at 
a time when they can protect and take care of them- 
selves. 

A Voice — But if yon can't protect them here, how 
can they be protected in Central America ? 

Mr. Trumbull — I would voloiiizi- than. We colo- 
nize Indians on oar n''.''tirn truiilifr ; why dorct we 
cohnize the negro «s n'cll «v the Indian? We can 

\emselves. Thit 
ry seems to be adapted to the 
■negro race. It is unhealthy and enervating to the 
wliite man. Let the negroes go there if the.\' wish ; 
and I understand there is no objection on the part 
of the people of portions of Central America to the 
negroes coming there and enjoying an equality of 
rights — [applause] — and this would give them an 
opportunity to improve their condition. I would be 
glad to see this couutiy relieved of them, believing 
it better both for them and for us that we should not 
mingle together. Besides, such an outlet, were it 
provided, would be the means of freeing thousands 
who would otherwise be continued in slavery. 

nOCGLAS AXD " niVERSlTV OF OUR IXSTITCTIOXS." 

I will say a word in regard to the argument, or 
lather perversion it should be called, I have seen 
going the rounds of the papers, that if such a state 
of things should take place — that the states should 
think proper to emancipate and send their slaves oft" 
— it could not be done without producing a unifor- 
mity between the institutions of the diSerent states; 
and that would lead to despotism. It is said that our 
free institutions rest upon the diversity of laws and 
institutions in the dift'erent states, and it is argued 
that if there is a uniformity on the subject of free- 
dom there must be uniformity upon every other 
subject — uniformity of laws for the granite hills of 
New Hampshire, the rice fields of South Carolina, 
the mines of California, and the prairies of Illinois. 
It is difficult to treat so illogical an inference se- 
riously; but if it be true that uniformity on the 
subject of freedom in all the states requires iniifor- 
mity of laws upon all subjects in the several states, 
then diversity upon the one subject would require 
diversity upon all. On this principle I caii prove 
that the men who advocate it, and who say that di- 
versity is the basis of our free institutions, are them- 
selves in favor of licensing robbei's, and burglars, 
and thieves, and murderers, and repealing all laws 
for punishing such offenders. And why ? Because 
all the states of the Union have laws for preventing 
the commission of such crimes ; and as diversity of 
laws is the basis of our free institutions, we must re- 
peal our criminal code in order to bring it about, 
lest, by having laws in all the states punishing such 
criminals, we fall into despotism. Now, you 
who are for diversity of laws and institutions in 
the different states, must sanction murder, robbery, 



burglary and theft, according to your own mode of 
reasoning. The application of such reasoning is as 
good one way as the other, and this shows the utter 
absurdity of charging upon the Republicans — who 
would wish that in the providence of God, not a 
human being trod his footstool in the capacity of 
slave — [loud applause] — a desire to have a uniformiiy 
of laws and institutions in all the states on all sub- 
jects. I say this, simply turning the argument used 
against us upon those who make it, and showing that 
they are just as obnoxious to the charge of advocat- 
ing diversity of laws and institutions upon all sub- 
jects as we are of advocating uniformity upon all. 

COXCLVSIOX. 

Having given the views of the Republican party, 
as I under.stand them, in regard to slavery, I de- 
signed to have said something upon the unwarrant- 
able assumption of power by the federal executive, 
but am already so nuich exhausted as to be unable 
to do so. I intended to have pointed out to you the 
nature of the assumptions of power on the part of 
the federal goveinment tending to consolidation and 
to break down the sovereignty of the states ; to have 
shown, as it can be shown and demonstrated, that 
this party, now calling itself democratic, is the old 
federal party in di.sguise. [" Go on," " Good, 
good," "Goon," and applause.] It is true, and 
it can be demonstrated to be true. The powers 
which have been usurped by Pierce and Buchanan 
would have led to the impeachment, I believe, of 
Washington himself. [Applause.] Why, the Presi- 
dent of the United States now assumes to raise armies 
without calling upon Congress. He has enlisted 
volunteers without the least authority from Con- 
gress. He has marched an army away to the Rockj- 
Mountains, and encamped it there during the winter 
at an expense of millions and millions of dollars, 
without the least authority of law. But all that a 
democratic Congress does is to raise the money to 
pay for the expedition. I say nothing here of the 
impolicy of that expedition ; I speak of the want of 
power in the President to send it there. It 
is done, I know, under the pretended name of 
a possii comitatns to accompany the Governor. 
It IS the .same sort of subterfuge under which 
troops were employed in Kansas to compel 
submission to its invaders. You know what a 
pos.-ie coniitatas is. It is the power of the count)', 
called out by a civil officer to assist in the execution 
of process when resisted, and the President of the 
United States, who has no authority to summon a 
2)o.%-<e for any purpose, calls the army from Florida, 
thousands of miles ofl', and sends it as a posse comita- 
^^/.v first to Kansas, afterwards to the Rocky Moun- 
tains to accompany the governor. Why, a governor 
has no right to have a possv comitatas for an escort, 
and it is a perversion of terms to give such a name 
to an army. The authority to make war is vested 
by the constitution in the Congress of the United 
States. It is expressly declared that Congress shall 
have power to declare war, to raise armies, and pre- 
scribe rules for their government. 

A Voice. — How will you put down rebellion ? 

Mr. Trumbull — I will put down rebellion under 
the authority of Congress, and in no other way. 
[Applause.] ' The President of the United States is 
the commander-in-chief, when Congress raises the 
troops and directs him what to do, but he has no 
power to raise an army ; and if you sanction his 
usurpations of power in raising armies and using 
them at his discretion, the time is not distant when 
some Bonaparte or Cfesar will assume to con- 
trol your rights and mine. [Great cheers.] The 
Republican party is opposed to this assumption of 



^ 



10 



power, and all those unnecessary offices and unneces- 
sary expenses, and they are for bringing the gov- 
ernment back, not only in regard to this slavery 
question, but in regard to all questions, to its origi- 
nal policy under Washington and Jefferson. 
We are for an economical administration of the 
government, for sha])ing the legislation of the coun- 
try to serve the best interests of the countrv, and the 
whole countiy— oi)i)ressing no section and' no inter- 
est, but doing justice to all; [cries of "good, good " 
and loud applause:] not interferinsi with slaverv 
where it is, but sliaping the policy of the country so 



as to prevent its expansion, and leaving it as the 
constitution has left it-for the states wfere it ex 
ists to manage it shall seem to them best. TAp- 
phu.se j That I understand to be the policv of the 
Republican party. [n..,all that party in power, and 

pio.spenty, for a free, a united and a happV people. 
Li-.oud and long continued cheering. | '^f^- ^ i" 

As Mr. Trumbull retired, three cheers were called 
tor by a voice m the crowd, and responded to bv 
thousands of voices with great enthusiasm 



^—^ 




